


the legend of marinette

by m3owww



Series: maribat [10]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Maribat - Fandom, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Airbender! Marinette, AtLA AU, F/M, Firebender! Damian, Gen, Other tags to be added, a retelling of avatar: the last airbender but with damian as zuko and marinette as aang, everyone else is just along for the ride
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:15:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/m3owww/pseuds/m3owww
Summary: Marinette is a girl lost a hundred years in the future, looking everywhere for the world she once knew and finding that it has all changed. She is the last surviving airbender, the Avatar, though she wishes nothing more than to not have the weight of the world on her shoulders.Damian is a disgraced Fire Nation Prince, who has spent the last three years searching, combing the world, for a way to return home. He thinks that the key to being able to apologize to his sister, the key to being welcomed back by his mother, is the Avatar.Marinette is stuck in a time period before the war, a time that no longer exists outside of the minds of very few people. She does her best to adjust with the help of her newfound friends from the Water Tribe because she has to, because as much as she hates it, she’s the Avatar, and she is a symbol of hope.To Damian, the Avatar is a beacon of hope. Capturing them would mean that his journey, his banishment, is over, that he can go back to his sister and they can put everything behind them, returning things to the way they once were.aka: the Daminette ATLA au that literally nobody asked for.
Relationships: Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Damian Wayne, others to be added as the story progresses - Relationship
Series: maribat [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1842979
Comments: 43
Kudos: 92





	the legend of marinette

**Author's Note:**

> aHHHHHHH another fic that promises to be at least 60 chapters. why do I do this to myself.

Kagami stared out at the vast sea of ice that extended for seemingly forever in every direction as her brother attempted to fish, occasionally stabbing the water with his spear and making frustrated noises as they got away.

A glimmer of movement catches her eye, and she notices a fish swimming awfully close to her side of the boat. Kagami extends her hands, covered by warm mittens, and tries to feel the water underneath and all around her, trying to bend it to her will.

A light thrumming starts in her fingers, and then a large blob of water is moving up, up, detaching itself from the sea to float joyfully around her- with a fish still inside.

“Adrien,” she says excitedly, and a bit frantically, because she doesn’t know how much longer she can maintain this control over the water. There were not many benefits, if any, to being the only waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe. “Adrien, look!”

“Not now Kagami, be quiet.” Her brother instructs, eyes narrowed at a moving shape in the water. “You’ll scare away the fish!”

Kagami frowns. “But Adrien-” A momentary lapse in concentration allows the water to slip through her grasp, the fish flopping back into the ocean and dousing Adrien with icy water as it hits the surface and sinks below. 

Luckily for Kagami, her subconscious protects her from the splash by deflecting the water onto… Adrien, who is now dripping with cold water.

After her brother stops squealing, he glares. “Why is it that every time you play with magic water, _I’m_ the one who gets soaked?” A limp strand of golden hair squirts a drop of water onto his nose, as if to accentuate his point.

Kagami sighs. “It’s not magic, Adrien, it’s waterbending! An-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Adrien cuts her off, waving a soggy mitten. “An ‘ancient art unique to our culture’, blah blah blah. Look, I’m just saying, if I had weird powers, I’d keep them to myself.”

Kagami is sorely tempted to douse him in water again. “You’re calling _me_ weird? Remind me which one of us flexes his pathetic muscles every time he sees his own reflection in the water again?”

Her brother doesn’t answer, too busy flexing at his own reflection in the water. She pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing again.

Suddenly, the canoe shudders, and Adrien frantically turns and grabs his paddle as their boat is caught in a rapid current that is pulling them towards a large patch of ice floes, which promises certain doom for their little canoe and the passengers on it.

Adrien rows furiously, trying his best to avoid the ice as Kagami grips the sides of the canoe with all her might, hanging on for dear life as the boat swerves from side to side, each turn brushing closer and closer to a chunk of ice than the last.

The gaps between the ice floes are getting smaller and smaller.

“Left, Adrien! Go left!” Kagami yells, panicked, as the current insists on pulling them right, towards some terrifyingly large chunks of ice. Adrien tries his best to turn, but the current wins, and the siblings leap off the boat as it is crushed by three separate floes of ice.

Kagami exhales slowly, feeling her heart race, and crawls on her hands and knees towards the middle of the ice floe she and Adrien landed on. Her brother sits next to his spear, which is embedded point-first into the ice.

“You call that left?” She grumbles, annoyed at their current predicament. How were they supposed to get home now?

“Well, if you don’t like my steering, maybe you should have _waterbended_ us out of the ice.” Adrien huffs, flapping his hands around in a terrible imitation of waterbending.

Kagami stands, irritated. “So it is my fault now?”

“I knew I should have left you home!” Adrien exclaims. “Leave it to a girl to screw things up!”

Kagami is not known for having a short temper, but this is the last straw. “You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained, and arrogant person I have ever met!” She flings her hands up in the air, thoroughly exasperated with him. “I am embarrassed to be related to you!” Her body thrumming with what must be anger, she forcefully brings her hands down again, trying to rid herself of the anger through the motion.

A loud _crack_ sounds behind her, but she pays it no mind as she continues to chew out Adrien, whose wide green eyes are now focused on her. Good.

“Ever since Father died, I’ve been doing all the work around camp while you have been off playing soldier since Mother refused to let you go fight!”

Adrien points at her, eyes somehow growing wider. “Uh… Kagami…”

“I wash all the clothing!” Kagami says, flinging her arms up again with frustration as she remembers the terrible smell of her brother’s socks. “Have you ever smelled your own dirty socks, Adrien? Because, let me tell you, they are _disgusting_!” Another two _cracks_ sound as she brings her arms down again.

“Kagami, calm down!” Adrien screeches, only serving to anger her further.

“No, Adrien.” She hisses. “That’s it! I am _done_ helping you! From now on, you are on your own!” She accentuates her words by flinging an arm out to the side, feeling the thrumming of anger flow through her body.

Adrien gasps, petrified, as the loudest _crack_ yet sounds, and only then does she realize that maybe her brother’s eyes weren’t focused on her. Kagami whirls around to see fissures snaking their way up the massive iceberg behind her, and as she watches, one of them reaches the top.

The two halves split apart slowly at first, then faster, until they both collapse into the water, sending a huge wave, larger than one Kagami can waterbend, pushing their ice floe back. She and Adrien flatten themselves against the ice as they are shoved backwards, Adrien wrapping an arm around her.

When the wave subsides, Adrien releases her. “Okay, you’ve gone from ‘weird’ to ‘freakish’, Kagami.”

She frowns at the space where the iceberg one stood. “You mean _I_ did that?” Maybe the thrumming of anger through her veins wasn’t really anger at all, then.

Her brother nudges her in the side with his elbow. “Yep. Congratulations.” He says sarcastically. “Would you like a prize? Some seal jerky? My extra-stinky cheese?”

Kagami opens her mouth to reply, but then the water where the iceberg pieces crashed catches her eye. _Are those… bubbles?_

The water is bubbling faster now, and a small part of it starts glowing a bright blue. It gets larger by the second, and all of a sudden, a large, spherical block of ice breaks through the surface of the water, sending her and Adrien scrambling back away from the edge of their ice floe.

For some reason, the spherical block of ice, larger than the iceberg Kagami split in half, is the source of the bright blue light. 

Despite her common sense telling her that she should probably not approach the giant block of ice that’s glowing, Kagami does it anyway, and notices that there’s a human shape in the center of the ice, with a much larger… blob behind it.

The human is sitting in a lotus position, with glowing arrows on their forehead and hands. Kagami frowns, confused, as the light glows brighter, making the person’s features visible.

Suddenly, the person’s eyes open, glowing the same brilliant blue that the ice is emanating, and she jumps back, startled.

It is now obvious that the person in the iceberg is alive. Though, what that light was all about, Kagami doesn’t know.

“They’re alive.” She states briskly. “We need to get them out of that ice before they freeze to death.”

Adrien reaches for his club, but Kagami is faster, snatching it off the sheath on his back and pulling her hood up as she heads back towards the iceberg, ignoring her brother’s sigh and calls.

“Kagami, get back here! We don’t even know what that thing is!”

Kagami reaches the iceberg and starts hitting the iceberg with Adrien’s club, but it doesn’t even make a dent. It would take months to break through the massive wall of ice, and they don’t have much time. She keeps persisting, however, and on her fifth strike, the club cracks the surface, letting a large blast of air loose, throwing her and Adrien back.

Cracks snake their way through the iceberg, and it destroys itself in a huge explosion of bright blue light, a concentrated beam of it shooting up into the sky.

.o0o.

Damian is pacing the deck of his ship when he notices the beam of light in the sky, and he whips towards the sight, leaning as far over the railing of the deck as his grandfather will let him.

“Finally.” He says, trying to not let his excitement show. “Grandfather, do you know what this means?”

His grandfather hums as he ponders where to place his next card. “I will not get to finish my game?”

“It means my search is about to come to an end.” Damian replies, suppressing a smile at the thought. 

Once he has the Avatar, he’ll be welcomed home with open arms. Mother will reinstate his honor, and he’ll be able to apologize to his sister in person, since she hasn’t been answering his letters.

Damian supposes that he wouldn’t want to answer any letters sent from his estranged sibling, either, especially not after what he did to her, but it didn’t really make her silence hurt any less.

_ But what you forced her to go through was worse, _ A traitorous part of his mind whispers. He tells it to shut up.

“That light must have come from an incredibly powerful source, Grandfather.” Damian gestures towards the bright blue beam, which is now fading, but still brilliant against the sky. “It has to be him.”

Grandfather places down another card. “Or, it could just be the celestial lights, Prince Damian. I would hate for you to get so excited over nothing. Would you like a calming cup of jasmine tea, perhaps?”

Damian tries and fails to squash his irritation at his grandfather’s relaxed demeanor. Doesn’t he understand how important this is to him? “I do not need any calming tea! What I need is to capture the Avatar! Helmsman!” He barks at the nearest crew member. “Set a course for the light.” He points in the direction where the light, now completely faded away, once was.

.o0o.

Gusts of wind still blow around the now hollowed-out crater of ice, but as seconds tick by, those settle too, and Kagami rises again, a defensive arm wrapped around Adrien as he brandishes his spear at the crater, ready to fend off anything that exits if needed.

A glowing figure slowly emerges from the hole in the iceberg, climbing up to stand on top of the ice and stare down at them, midnight hair parted to expose the glowing arrow tattoo on their forehead to match the ones visible on their hands.

The light finally dissipates, and reveals a young girl who cannot be older than thirteen, small and slender, with dark hair parted into two pigtails tied with orange ribbons and orange-and-yellow clothing that was certainly too light for the climate of the South Pole.

Suddenly, the girl moans in what seems to be exhaustion, and collapses.

Kagami hears a panicked noise escape her mouth as she runs forward, catching the (surprisingly light) girl before she hits the ground, gently setting her down on the ice.

Adrien pokes the girl in the side of the head with the butt of his spear, curious.

She swats her brother’s hand away. “Stop that.”

The girl slowly opens her eyes, revealing piercing blue irises that seem too wise and innocent at the same time, and Kagami blinks in surprise as they stare into her own.

.o0o.

Marinette opens her eyes for what feels like the first time in forever to see a girl dressed in blue and white furs ( _Water Tribe_ , her mind supplies helpfully,) and ebony hair pulled into a single braid hovering over her.

She has no clue what to do in this situation, so she does what she always does.

Marinette beams.

Then, realizing she’s lying on ice (and it’s _freezing_ ), she summons a small gust of air and easily rises onto her feet, making the Water Tribe girl and another boy in the same blue and white furs back away. The boy also levels a spear at her.

_ Not cool, but I suppose I can always knock it aside. _ Her mind hums, taking in the boy’s blond hair and green eyes. Not your typical Water Tribe attributes. She would have thought he was from the Earth Kingdom, if it weren’t for his clothes.

Then she realizes that _hey, this isn’t the Eastern Air Temple._

“What’s going on?” Marinette asks, resisting the urge to shiver as a cold wind blows past. Oh, how she wishes she could firebend right about now.

“You tell us!” The boy says, pointing his spear at her again. “How’d you get in the ice? And why aren’t you frozen?” He pokes her in the side with the blunt end of his spear, and she lazily smacks it away.

Marinette frowns. “I don’t know…” All she has are flashes of rain and water and lightning, then nothing.

A familiar groan fills the air, and she grins. “Tikki!” Marinette climbs the ice ridge until she spots her sky bison, a big brown arrow on her forehead and brown spots speckled on her body. “Are you alright?”

Tikki’s eyes are still closed, so she leaps onto her head and hangs off the side, lifting one eyelid, revealing a big brown eye that droops shut as soon as she releases her hand. She jumps off her bison’s head, maneuvering around to the front to try and lift Tikki’s chin up, but it refuses to budge, despite Marinette’s best efforts.

Tikki finally starts responding to her as the Water Tribe kids turn the corner, licking Marinette with her giant tongue. She giggles at the familiar sensation.

“You’re okay!” Marinette manages in between laughs, and hugs Tikki’s nose in relief. The bison stands on her six legs and stretches, powerful muscles rippling as Marinette continues to stroke her nose.

The Water Tribe boy gapes. “What is that thing?”

“This is Tikki.” Marinette smiles. “She’s my flying bison.”

The boy snorts, rolling his eyes. “Right. And this is Kagami, my flying sister.”

The girl ( _Kagami_ , her brain reminds her) shoots her brother a weird look, but Marinette doesn’t have time to dwell on it because Tikki has started to inhale deeply, signaling that she’s going to sneeze.

Marinette ducks as a powerful blast of air sends a large glob of snot directly onto the Water Tribe boy, covering him from head to toe as he squeals in disgust, burying his face in the snow to try and rub it off.

Serves him right for doubting Tikki. Marinette thinks, even as she cheerfully grins. “Don’t worry, it’ll wash out!” She scans her surroundings again, confused as to how she ended up here, of all places. Aren’t the Water Tribes based at the poles? Why wasn’t she at the Eastern Air Temple? “So, do you guys live around here?”

The boy points his spear at her yet again. Marinette isn’t really all that surprised by this turn of events anymore. “Don’t answer that!” He barks to his sister. “Didn’t you see that crazy bolt of light? She was probably trying to signal the fire navy!”

Kagami pushes the spear away. “Oh, yes, I’m sure she’s a spy for the Fire Nation. Just look at that _evil_ look in her eye.” She deadpans, eliciting another smile from Marinette. “The paranoid one is my brother Adrien. You never informed us of your name.”

“I’m Ma- a- a- a- _achoo_!” Marinette sneezes, and accidentally lifts about thirty feet in the air as she momentarily loses control over her powers, but she regains control fast enough to land almost soundlessly on the ice again. She rubs her nose, sniffling. It really is cold out here. “I’m Marinette!”

Adrien gapes, pointing a shaky finger at her. “Y-you just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air!”

She tilts her head, blinking. “Really? It felt a bit higher than that.”

Suddenly, Kagami gasps. “You’re an airbender!”

Marinette doesn’t really know why the siblings look so surprised. The sky bison, her orange and yellow clothing, and her master tattoos should have told them already. Besides, it wasn’t like airbenders were extremely rare, was it?

“Sure am!” She grins, not letting any of her confusion show.

Adrien shakes his head, turning to walk away. “Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders… I think I got midnight sun madness. I’m gonna go home to where stuff makes sense.” He pauses at the edge of their ice float, probably realizing that he has no way home without a boat. 

Speaking of which, how did Adrien and Kagami get here if they don’t have a boat?

“Well, if you guys are stuck, Tikki and I can always give you a lift!” Marinette smiles, before summoning a gust of wind to propel herself onto her bison’s head.

Kagami gives her a tiny smile. “We would love a ride. Thank you.” She makes her way to Tikki’s side, and Marinette reaches over to help the other girl up.

“Oh, no.” Adrien shakes his head rapidly. “I am _not_ getting on that fluffy snot monster!”

His sister snorts. “Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come and give you a ride home, then? Before you freeze to death, perhaps?”

The blond opens his mouth to reply as Marinette stifles a snicker, before closing it again once he realizes that he’s been beaten. Adrien sighs in defeat and climbs onto Tikki.

“Alright, first time fliers!” Marinette cheers. “Hold on tight! Tikki, spots on!” She whips the reins, and Tikki growls, moving her tail up and down before leaping into the air. They soar for a glorious three seconds before Tikki belly flops into the water with a large splash, and starts slowly trudging through the water.

Marinette frowns, and tries again. “Come on, Tikki. Spots on!”

Adrien huffs, crossing his arms. “Wow. That was truly amazing.”

From the saddle comes the sound of an elbow hitting a body, and an indignant squeal. Marinette is glad her back is facing the Water Tribe siblings so that they can’t see her grin. 

“Tikki’s just a bit tired. A little rest, and she’ll be soaring through the sky! You’ll see!” She says brightly.

Adrien sighs, and Marinette shifts a little, getting comfortable, as Tikki wades through the icy water. It’s going to be quite a while before they reach their destination.

.o0o.

Grandfather stands from his place at the table. “I am going to bed now. Prince Damian, you also need to sleep. Even if you are right and the Avatar is alive, you will not find him. Your mother and grandfather both tried and failed.”

“Because their honor did not depend on the Avatar’s capture.” Damian retorts. “Mine does. This coward’s hundred years in hiding have come to an end.”

He refuses to let the Avatar, his only chance of returning home, slip through his fingers. He will not let his family down again.

.o0o.

Marinette lies on her back, staring up at the sky as Tikki lazily slogs through the water, contemplating her next course of action after dropping the siblings off. Will she go back to the Eastern Air Temple, to Diana, even though the others wanted to send her to the Western Temple? Will she go to the West? Would she stay in the Water Tribe? Go to the Earth Kingdom? Or the Fire Nation?

“Hey.” Kagami’s voice shocks her out of her thoughts.

“Hey.” Marinette plasters on a smile. “What’cha thinking about?”

“I was wondering if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar, since you are an airbender?” The other girl questions.

The Avatar. The only person who could wield all four elements, a beacon of hope for the world. Everyone put their trust in the Avatar, and they had the weight of the entire world, all four nations, on their shoulders. 

Marinette never wanted to be the Avatar.

“Oh, no. I didn’t know her. I mean, I knew people that knew her, but I didn’t. Sorry.” She gives Kagami what she hopes looks like a sheepish smile.

Kagami’s face falls for a moment before she smooths it back into a neutral expression. “Okay. I was just curious. Goodnight.”

“Sleep tight!” Marinette waves, then turns around, squashing down the guilt that rises inside of her.

.o0o.

_ Lightning crackles overhead as the rain pours down on them. She clutches Tikki’s reins with white-knuckled fists, wet clothing plastered to her body. Thunder booms overhead, and Tikki bellows in fright, plummeting downwards as they lose a battle against a large gust of wind. _

_ She screams as they plummet down, down, into the dark, choppy waves of the ocean below, and for a single, terrifying moment, they are underwater, before Tikki surfaces again, taking her with it. _

_ She gasps for breath, but the relief is short-lived as another wave pulls them under again, and the last thing she sees are her airbender tattoos glowing before everything fades to black. _

.o0o.

“Marinette. Marinette, wake up.” She shoots upright, gasping for air, still feeling the phantoms of water filling her lungs. 

Kagami is next to her, a hand on Marinette’s shoulder, probably from where she was trying to shake her away. “It is alright. We’re in the village now. Come on, you must get ready. Everyone is waiting to meet you.”

Every- _what now?_ Marinette shrugs, picking up her orange and yellow clothes off the floor and tugging them on. She hears a sharp inhale from behind her when she turns around, probably because Kagami’s never seen airbender tattoos before. _I guess the nomads haven’t really been to the Poles in a while_.

Marinette follows Kagami out of the tent to a small group of people, all dressed in Water Tribe attire. “Marinette, this is the entire village. Entire village, meet Marinette.” Kagami gestures towards the group, and a frown tugs at the corners of Marinette’s mouth.

This is the entire village? But… why is it so small? The village can’t just consist of Kagami, Adrien, eight children, and an elderly woman, right? Where are the men? The women?

It’s not really her place to ask. Marinette bows respectfully towards the villagers, but a few back away, expressions of fear on their faces. She turns to Kagami, surprised.

“Um, why are they all looking at me like that? Did Tikki sneeze on me or something?” She looks down, but her clothing is snot-free.

The sole elderly woman steps forward. “Well, nobody has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my grandchildren found you.”

_ A hundred years? Wow, we really need to visit the Poles more often if the people there think we’ve gone extinct! _

“Marinette, this is my grandmother.” Kagami gestures to the lady, who schools her face into a blank mask.

“Call me Gran-Gran.” She deadpans.

Suddenly, Marinette’s staff is snatched out of her hands, and she glares at the blond examining it. 

“What is this, a weapon?” Adrien snorts. “You can’t stab anything with this!”

Marinette summons a small burst of air to knock the staff out of the boy’s hands and catches it. “It’s not for stabbing, it’s for airbending.” She opens the staff into her glider, and Adrien gasps, covering his head with his hands.

“Magic trick!” A village girl cheers. “Do it again!”

“It’s not magic.” Marinette corrects. “It’s airbending. It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly!”

“Ya know, last time I checked, humans can’t fly!” Adrien mocks, and indignation wells up inside of her.

“Check again!” Marinette grins cheekily, before pushing herself off of the ground and into the air, laughing as she loops around and around in the sky.

She touches back down onto the ice, landing cushioned by air, and Kagami gives her a full-fledged smile. “That was amazing!”

“Great.” Adrien grumbles. “You’re an airbender, Kagami’s a waterbender. Together, you can just waste time all day long.” He stalks back to where his boomerang lies and continues sharpening it.

“You’re a waterbender?” Marinette asks in surprise. Kagami could be the teacher she’s looking for! She could help her master her second element!

“Sort of.” The other girl replies evasively. “Not yet.” Well, what does that mean? How can she not be a waterbender yet? By Marinette’s estimate, Kagami was a year older than her at most. The Water Tribe, like all the other nations, started training their benders early on, as soon as they discovered their powers.

“All right, no more playing.” Gran-Gran declares. “Kagami, you have chores to do.”

As Kagami and the others disperse, Marinette is left standing alone in the middle of the tiny ice village, pondering. 

What is going on?

.o0o.

Damian squares off against two other firebenders as his Grandfather watches. He feels the familiar heat of rage simmer just underneath his skin for a moment before spreading his arms in the direction of the firebenders, letting the flames cascade over them.

His attacks are blocked, and then Damian twists into a fiery dance with the other two firebenders, flames shooting from every punch and kick as he ducks and dodges their blows. 

“No!” The three of them freeze at the sound of his Grandfather’s voice. “Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire.” Grandfather sends a blast of fire at Damian that evaporates just before it would have hit him in the face. “Try again, and this time, get it right.”

The rage inside Damian boils, and he strides towards his grandfather. “Enough! I have been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set! I am more than ready!” At this rate, he’ll never be good enough to defeat the Avatar, and he needs to be able to defeat him to go home.

“No, you are impatient.” Grandfather replies calmly. “You have yet to master the basics. Drill it again!” He commands.

Damian clenches his teeth and whirls around, sending a powerful blast of fire towards one of the other firebenders with a kick. He attempts to block the blast, but fails, and Damian feels a sense of satisfaction as the other bender is thrown onto his back from the force of his blow.

“The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender.” Damian snarls, ignoring his grandfather’s disappointed face. “He has to be over a hundred years old now. He has had a century to master all four elements. I will need more than basic firebending to teach him, so you _will_ teach me the advanced set!”

“Very well.” Grandfather says dryly. “But first, I must finish this delightful cup of Earl Grey.”

.o0o.

Marinette wanders around the tiny camp until she comes back to the center, where Adrien is yelling at the children, who are playing on Tikki. 

“Stop! Stop it right now!” The blond notices her approaching, and turns his glare to her. “What’s wrong with you? We don’t have time for fun and games with the War going on!”

Wait. “What war? What are you talking about?” Marinette asks. Last time she checked, the four nations were at peace with each other.

Adrien raises an eyebrow in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Uh, no?” Marinette begins, but stops when she spots a penguin. “Ooh, a penguin!”

The flightless bird is startled by her shout and starts waddling off, but Marinette is an airbender. She uses the air around her to propel herself faster and faster after the penguin. 

She hasn’t seen a penguin before. They’re really cute.

“Marinette?” Kagami calls, and she turns mid jump, having attempted to take a penguin sledding but belly flopping into the snow instead.

“Hey Kagami!” She grins. “I might need some help here.”

Kagami’s lips twitch. “I’ll help you catch a penguin if you teach me waterbending.”

Something cold settles in Marinette’s stomach. “Uh, I’m an airbender, not a waterbender, remember? I can’t teach you how to bend an element that I can’t bend. Isn’t there someone in your tribe who can teach you?”

“No.” The other girl says. “You’re looking at the only waterbender in the entire South Pole.”

The _entire_ South Pole? “That’s not right.” Marinette murmurs. “Waterbenders need to master water, but you can’t do that without a master.”

Suddenly, she has a thought. “Hey, there’s another Water Tribe at the North Pole, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you!” 

“We have not had contact with our sister tribe in a very long time. It _is_ on the other side of the world.” Kagami remarks dryly. 

“Ah, but you forgot that I have a flying bison!” Marinette grins. “Tikki and I can personally fly you there, and we’re going to find you a master!” _To train you, and me._

Kagami frowns, unsure. “I have never left home before.”

Marinette knows the feeling. “Think about it. In the meantime, could you teach me to catch one of these penguins?”

.o0o.

Penguin sledding is a lot like airbending. The same feeling of wind rushing past her, the exhilaration of soaring through the air, but there was one big difference- penguin sledding had a penguin, obviously.

“I haven’t done this since I was a kid!” Kagami calls to her over the roaring wind.

“You still _are_ a kid!” Marinette yells back as they enter a tunnel. She grins, using her airbending to propel herself forward and ahead of Kagami.

The tunnel levels out onto an open icy plain, marred by a large metal ship that is held in place by a huge ice protrusion that forces the bow of the ship to point towards the sky. Marinette jumps off her penguin in surprise.

“What is that?” She breathes, gazing up at the massive metal structure.

“A Fire Navy ship.” Kagami says darkly. “It’s a very bad memory for my people.” 

Curious, Marinette approaches the ship. What’s in there? If it’s such a bad memory, why haven’t the Air Nomads heard about it?

“Marinette, stop! We’re not allowed to go near it! The ship could be booby-trapped!” Kagami calls. Marinette turns around to face the other girl, blue eyes sparkling. “If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear.”

That does the trick. Kagami climbs into a hole in the hull of the ship after her, and they walk through the silent rooms, footsteps echoing through the metal halls.

Marinette enters what seems to be an armory, the other girl close behind.

“This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation’s first attacks.” Kagami’s voice echoes, giving everything a haunted quality.

Wait. _Attacks_ , plural? “Hold on, back up. I have friends all over the world, including the Fire Nation, and I’ve never seen any war.” Marinette picks up a _guan dao_ with the Fire Nation emblem and inspects it. She’s positive that Alix would have said something if they were invading the Water Tribe.

Something changes in Kagami’s expression. “How long were you in that iceberg, Marinette?”

“Uh, I don’t know.” Marinette scrunches her eyebrows in thought. “A few days, maybe?”

“I think it was more like a hundred years.” The Water Tribe girl states, brown eyes gentle.

“W-what?” Marinette sputters, taking a step back. “That’s impossible! There’s no way I could have been trapped in ice for a century! Do I look a hundred and thirteen years old to you?”

“It’s the only logical conclusion.” Kagami responds. “The War is a hundred years old. The only way you wouldn’t know about it would be because you weren’t there when it began.”

It makes sense, and Marinette hates that it makes sense.

“A hundred years…” She mutters, staring at the floor. 

All her friends must be dead. Kim, Alix, and her airbender friends- Nino, Alya, Juleka, Rose, everyone. All dead. Because it’s been a hundred years, but it only feels like yesterday for her.

“I am sorry, Marinette.” Kagami says. “Perhaps there is a bright side to all of this.”

Marinette plasters on a smile. “I did get to meet you and Adrien!”

“Let’s head back. This ship is starting to get creepy.” The other girl says, and Marinette turns in the direction she thinks they came from.

Except it isn’t. And she trips over a thin rope that causes metal bars to slide over the entrance and bar them inside.

“What’s that you were saying about booby traps?” Marinette mutters sheepishly, panicking as the ship’s engines and gears start moving, sending up a flare that explodes high in the sky.

“Fire Lord’s pants.” Marinette curses. She looks up, seeing a hole in the roof, and scoops Kagami up into her arms, ignoring the other girl’s surprised noise. “Hold on tight.”

And she jumps.

.o0o.

Damian watches through a telescope as a figure in orange and yellow (the classic airbender colors, he muses) carries a girl in blue jumps down from the side of the wrecked ship.

“The last airbender.” He mutters to himself. “Agile, for his old age.”

He turns to the nearest soldier. “Wake my Grandfather, and inform him that I have found the Avatar.”

Damian turns back to the telescope and sees that the orange and blue figures are running towards… a village. The corners of his lips turn upwards in a dangerous, razor-sharp smirk.

“As well as his hiding place.”

**Author's Note:**

> come find me on [tumblr!](https://m3owww.tumblr.com/)
> 
> edit 11.27.20: silverfelix707 on tumblr drew Marinette and I'm sCREAMING because it's so good and it's the first fanart I've ever gotten???? you can find it [here](https://m3owww.tumblr.com/post/635976934218727424/dddddd)!


End file.
